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Thursday, August 1, 2013

How talk of Godzilla 2014 produced the nerdiest conversation this side of the internet

I don't know if I should even admit to this, but yes, I comment on io9 on some of the silliest topics and sometimes the conversations I get into with fellow nerds are nothing short of epic.

Ladies and gentlemen, what you see above is the tail of Godzilla as it will appear in the 2014 Hollywood reboot of the "king of all monsters." It debuted at this year's San Diego Comic Con: a celebration of nerds so huge that it holds entire industries hostage each time it starts. And of course, anything worth a nerdgasm or two is going to be hosted by this guy: Chris Hardwick.

You may recognize him from the television show, The Talking Dead, or another television show, The Nerdist. Yes, it's not just you. Both of those shows have nerd/geek written all over them. Well he was at the epicenter of the Godzilla panel as well. For the record I like Chris Hardwick.

So here's what io9 has to say. Pay attention, by the way, because it relates to my oh so intelligent comment that produced the nerdiest conversation this side of the internet:

There was tons of shots of disasters and people running and human characters, and more of that in a second. But the centerpiece of the footage was a sequence where a big monster is attacking an airport, shredding airplanes and trashing buildings. It looks sort of like the Cloverfield monster with a more of a beetle-like carapace and spindly insect legs. It looks massive and powerful.

Yesterday, director Gareth Edwards told us there would be other creatures in the film — and here's our first sight of one. It looks scary and huge.

And then Godzilla's foot comes down next to the creature. Godzilla's FOOT. Which is dwarfing this poor spindly little creature.

And then there's a massive hero shot of this previously big-looking creature looming over the airport, and then Godzilla rises up behind it, and it's like a skyscraper next to a hut. Godzilla is this ginormous dark scaly beast with a gaping maw and a mighty screaming roar, and the crowd basically lost its shit. Host Chris Hardwick made a joke about people having to change their pants, and this seemed totally accurate.

Those of you that know me probably realize I'm good for a comment or two. Here's what I wrote:

And lo and behold, here are the responses:

Click to EMBIGGEN in order to read.

OMG...I love nerds. My favorite answer from this batch is from Tim Smith. He took my question seriously (as should all people because anything I say is worth paying attention to), and I love how he broke down the issue of the kaiju scientifically. Not to be outdone, other nerds chimed in:

Click to EMBIGGEN in order to read.

My favorite response in this batch comes from "kewlball" although I do like the "throwdown" potential initiated by commenter igndk11r when he said, "Category 7. He'd atomize a Jaeger in a single atomic breath." I should reply, "Says you! But 'Gypsy Danger' has got some serious kung fu cred with Mako at the helm, and she'd sidestep your atomic breath to give your big Godzuki a shot of liquid nitro TO THE FACE! BAM! The 'King of all Monsters' just got his ass kicked by a leftover prop from Evangelion. How do you like them apples? Boo Yah!"

I dare you to point out which one of these is the female. THAT is the fun
of all Japanese anime, inventor of the original "twink badass."

As entertaining as that is, I do feel obligated to point out that I may have failed all of you by NOT asking a more important question: But...but...will Godzilla be able to fly in this new movie? Because this footage from a TOHO film (considered canon by kaiju lovers) clearly shows that Godzilla has jet powers:

I would have loved to have heard Chris Hardwick trying to answer my question. I'm sure he'd have all kinds of fun with it. But alas...there is so much to discuss about Godzilla that the questions are probably endless.

*DISCLAIMER: I am in fact jealous that I did not come up with the handle "Octopussoup." Names like that are the only way to get respect in the prestigious kaiju community forums. Sigh and *hangs head in shame.

21 comments:

Nerdiness is awesome! However, I do have to say that I have just joined this mailing list for my work that has all these programmers discussing coding languages, and that is the nerdiest talk I have seen in a LONG time.

You have time for lengthy discussions in a Godzilla forum? When do you sleep? (And I'd say Godzilla is at least a category five.)Flying Godzilla is a bit cheesy, so hopefully he won't fly.Would a lengthy discussion about guitars be geeky? Well, not if it was with Satriani or Petrucci, because then it would be the ultimate cool.

I used to have lengthy discussions about insects and pest prevention all the time. I miss it.

Looking at the poster, at first glance I thought I was looking at Godzilla's lower jaw, mouth open wide about to swallow up the helicopters, which is crazy big and would possibly put him in a category eight or nine? But, I quickly realized this was just his backside, so, maybe just a five based on size alone.

Godzilla is war. Or at least embodies the horrors of war, being a monster that was created by a nuclear blast. I hope this message isn't washed over in the next film.

This has nothing to do with Godzilla, but I think I witnessed the nerdiest conversation yesterday in my home. My husband's car broke down so he was working at the kitchen table while I was painting the walls instead of writing. My teen was sitting next to him learning how to configure her laptop while he explained the details of how satellite technology works. I walked in and the conversation somehow devolved into Vulcan references. Later when I asked why he was discussing satellites (which was very informative for me but seemed random), he told me he was actually doing some sort of satellite configuration work during the discussion. WTH? Who does that at the kitchen table?

BTW, you've probably been in a discussion with my husband if you're commenting on that site. :)

Pshaaa, being a commenter on IO9 is awesome which, therefore, makes you awesome. I used to be a commenter on Jezebel but then let it slide when i just didn't have the time for it anymore.I'm super excited about godzilla and super sad that i still haven't had time for Pacific Rim.I have mixed feelings about Chris Hardwick

I think the dark haired one and the white haired one are guys. Hope I'm right, cool anime pick. Wow I'm overloaded on Godzilla and my determined dream of being in Comic Con 2015. You heard me, not just on, but in.

I should see the old Godzilla movie (original 1950s) and then check out the new one, just to see how much of a nerd I too can be. My favorite nerd movie, though, is Apollo 13, which is real-life and shows very nerdy NASA engineers being heroes and saving the astronauts.